Reviewing Cango (NYSE:CANG) and SmartRent (NYSE:SMRT)

SmartRent (NYSE:SMRT) and Cango (NYSE:CANG) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.4% of SmartRent shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.2% of Cango shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of SmartRent shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.1% of Cango shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares SmartRent and Cango’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SmartRent	-12.97%	-8.50%	-6.27%
Cango	-107.22%	-165.48%	-75.08%

Risk and Volatility

SmartRent has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cango has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for SmartRent and Cango, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SmartRent	1	2	0	0	1.67
Cango	1	1	1	1	2.50

SmartRent presently has a consensus price target of $1.20, indicating a potential upside of 3.90%. Cango has a consensus price target of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,282.49%. Given Cango’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cango is more favorable than SmartRent.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SmartRent and Cango”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SmartRent	$152.33 million	1.45	-$60.56 million	($0.10)	-11.55
Cango	$688.08 million	0.06	-$621.95 million	($23.79)	-0.09

SmartRent has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cango. SmartRent is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cango, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

SmartRent beats Cango on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SmartRent

SmartRent, Inc., an enterprise software company, provides an integrated smart home operating system to residential property owners and operators, homebuilders, institutional home buyers, developers, and residents in the United States. The company’s products and solutions include smart apartments and homes, access control for buildings, common areas, and rental units, asset protection and monitoring, parking management, self-guided tours, and community and resident Wi-Fi. It also offers professional services to customers, which include training, installation, and support services. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

About Cango

Cango Inc. operates an automotive transaction service platform that connects dealers, original equipment manufacturers, financial institutions, car buyers, insurance brokers, and companies in the People's Republic of China. The company offers automobile trading solutions comprising car sourcing, transaction facilitation, logistics, and warehousing support for dealers through Cango Haoche app that offers new car transaction services, and Cango U-Car app that offers used-car transaction services. It also provides automotive financing facilitation services that include facilitating financing transactions from financial institutions to car buyers, which comprises credit origination, credit assessment, credit servicing, and delinquent asset management services; facilitating financing transactions of car purchases for car buyers; and after-market services to car buyers, which includes facilitating the sale of insurance policies from insurance brokers or companies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.